


Just Know (you're not alone)

by ShippingEverything



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Runner Five, POV Second Person, Post-Mission: s01m09 A Voice in the Dark, Zombies Make, budding friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25517161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingEverything/pseuds/ShippingEverything
Summary: You make it four steps into Abel before you collapse, which is about seventeen more steps then you thought you’d be able to make.or: runner five makes it home
Relationships: Runner Five & Everyone
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Just Know (you're not alone)

**Author's Note:**

> i drank a coffee before starting this (a mistake, my brain is Bad on coffee) but i FINISHED IT in time! 90 minutes a _not_ a long time guys! prompt was this silken quote: And words, little words, words too small for any hope or promise, not really soothing but soothing nonetheless
> 
> title from philip philips' Home!

You make it four steps into Abel before you collapse, which is about seventeen more steps then you _thought_ you’d be able to make. Your legs twitch weakly, more nerve response than purposeful movement; you’re not at all trying to get up, you might not ever try to get up again, you might live the rest of your exhausted life on the trodden, muddy path in front of the Gate.

“Runner Five, I need you to get up for me,” An American accented voice says -- Doctor Myers, Maxine, you remember.

You take a deep breath, then another. You open your eyes -- you didn’t even notice them closing, how out of it _are_ you? -- and painstakingly push yourself just high enough to meet the doctor’s gaze. Doctor Myers doesn’t know BSL, almost no one in Abel does, but something in your face must project _I’m not sure if I can_ across all language barriers because Maxine grimaces and steps closer, taking your arm and helping maneuver you to sitting up. There are more people here than you realized, the gate guards and the doctor, obviously, but Janine and some of the other runners as well. You tilt your head back to look at the sky and, yes, the not-quite-full swell of the moon is still high in the sky, it’s still late.

 **“Why is everyone still awake?”** You sign best you can to Janine as Maxine begins to do a quick post-run examination.

“Mr. Yao rose the alarm when he spotted you on the scanners,” Janine, who somehow manages to still look terrifying and in control in her nightrobe, replies, frowning down at you. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“They don’t seem to have any bites,” Maxine confirms, “But they’re going to be sore tomorrow.”

 **“I’m sore right now,”** You sign, but Janine is talking to Maxine and misses it completely. You sigh and resist the urge to lay back down; you don’t think you’d be able to get up again if you did, and that seems a little rude after Doctor Myers went to all this effort to sit you up in the first place. The other runners move in as Maxine and Janine step away to discuss you like you’re not there, and one of them -- small, a little scary, bright red four on her wristband, _Jody_! -- offers you a hand.

“I know you think your legs are going to fall off, but if you want to be able to move tomorrow, you’re going to need to do some cooling down,” Jody says, “We won’t let you fall, alright? Just lean on us and we’ll do a walk around the perimeter.”

You take Jody’s hand and, small as she is, she easily supports your weight when your legs expectedly buckle. Another -- _Head of Runners_ , your mind supplies, _Evan_ , though you can’t for the life of you remember his number -- stands by your other side, and they both let you put your arms over their shoulders as they all but pull you into walking.

“There you go, Five, easy does it,” Evan says, voice gentle and low in your ear as he guides you. “We’ve got you.”

 _“You’re home,”_ Sam had said as you passed through the gates, and as the other runners help you coax your legs back into slow and steady motion, you think you believe him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this Quick Little Thing! 
> 
> [Main Tumblr (pldubrahs)](http://www.pldubrahs.tumblr.com) | [Writing Tumblr (nacreousglowclouds)](http://nacreousglowclouds.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter (@squidias)](http://twitter.com/squidias)


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